Lyon County Planning and Appeals Board members tabled a request for a utility substation by Lyon-Coffey Electric during Wednesday’s zoning meeting.
The request was tabled until further review for another location. Neighbors expressed strong opposition to the location of the proposed substation.
The utility substation was to be at the northwest corner of Road 170 and V in Lyon County off Old Highway 50, said Samuel Seeley, Lyon County zoning administrator and flood plain manager.
Scott Whittington, general manager of Lyon-Coffey Electric said the box is about six feet high and about 10 feet wide.
“We will never make it any bigger,” he said.
The box would serve as a distribution station for power and would help support the power load the APAC Shears asphalt plant would be putting on the Lyon-Coffey lines. The company is considering switching from diesel generators to electric generators. The proposed site is the least expensive route for Lyon-Coffey Electric, Whittington said.
“The cost for the membership would be a lot smaller and we wouldn’t have to build the lines all the way to APAC,” Whittington said.
Whittington said the box would be a pad-mounted transformer and would be accompanied by three regulators, which would be on wooden poles with three regulators and three smaller transformers. The regulators would be north of the transformer. Some neighbors referred to the regulators as “hydrogen bombs.”
“Regulators are of no danger to people,” Whittington said. “They are not dangerous.”
APAC would pay for 75 percent of the project cost and the rest would be distributed among Lyon-Coffey’s entire cooperative.
Neighbors opposed the application because of concerns about location and the effect on property values. Taime Pitchford said she is concerned about the proximity of the substation. She and her husband, Jim Pitchford, bought the property 14 years ago and they enjoy sitting on the front deck, having coffee and talking and reading. She said having a substation in front of her house would ruin the view.
“Who wants a substation for a neighbor?” Taime Pitchford told the zoning board.
Another neighbor voiced concerns about noise. Whittington said the regulator would hum no louder than normal talking, or 62 decibels.
“Their trying to compare apples to oranges here, it doesn’t work,” he said.
Pitchford wanted to know why the neighbors weren’t talked to about the proposal.
“We’re members,” she said. “We’re neighbors serving neighbors.”
“And I would apologize for not talking to you,” Whittington said.
Neighbors said they would like to have the site moved 400 feet away from the proposed site. Whittington said he didn’t know how much that would cost.
“This is the (most) cost-effective solution for us,” he said. “We did not look at other alternatives because it was going to cost us more more. We are a not-for-profit ...”
Later in the meeting, Whittington said the company would talk to Westar Energy to see what the cost would be to move the substation 350 to 400 feet to the north.
“We’ll look into it,” he said. “If we can do that we would be willing to move it. Certainly.”
“The only thing you can’t convince anybody of is that they gotta sit on the front porch and look at it,” said planner Trenton Fagg. “That seems to be the big problem.”
Planner Steve Brosemer said there would be a lot of goodwill shown by putting it further to the north.
Fagg said he thought the discussion set people’s minds at ease, but he would still like Lyon-Coffey Electric to review the location.
madpoet (anonymous) says...
They must mean the NORTHEAST corner of 170 & V. It's north of 170 and east of V.
The regulators are 6' by 2' and look like the old hydrogen bombs. It's not that they will blow up, it's that they are huge and ugly. Put those 10-15' in the air on telephone pole frames and they're going to be really attractive.
We just didn't want the substation plunked down right by road 170 in front of a house. Considering 99% of the benefit of the thing is going to APAC on the north side of I-35, it doesn't seem to unreasonable for the people living out there to be unhappy about the whole project. Those of us on Lyon-Coffey Electric will have to pay 25% of the cost (around $75,000) and the only benefit it sounds like we'll get is less flickering of lights etc. The coop admitted the only reason they're building it is for APAC but APAC isn't paying 100% of the cost. Bunch of BS in my opinion.
May 14, 2009 at 1:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
It's not just that it's ugly. It is being built for the benefit of someone way over on the other side of the interstate yet will be paid for in part by those who get almost no benefit from it. I know there's no way you can understand since you appear to have no compassion for others.
May 14, 2009 at 3:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
crack
What if you really had a kingdom and somebody offered you an edit button for it and you had to keep your word and give up your kingdom for a stupid edit button.................. that would suck.
May 14, 2009 at 5:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
As if I would click on any link from crack...no thanks. I give up on him/her. Lost cause.
May 14, 2009 at 9:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )